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Posts Tagged ‘Environment America’

The last decade has proven that clean energy technology can power American homes, businesses and industry – and leaves America poised to dramatically accelerate its shift away from fossil fuels. With renewable energy prices falling and new energy-saving technologies coming on line every day, America should work to obtain 100 percent of our energy from clean, renewable sources.

Fortunately, leading states continue to prove that curbing dangerous carbon pollution can reduce the risk of global warming and benefit local communities at the same time. The Northeast and Mid-Atlantic states have dramatically reduced dangerous power plant pollution, using tools including the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, a policy that limits pollution over time and makes polluters pay for the privilege of using the sky for waste disposal. Much of the revenue is then invested in clean energy programs, which have boosted the regional economy by nearly $3 billion.

In recent years, a number of studies have challenged that assumption, finding that natural gas production, transportation and storage results in major leaks of methane to the atmosphere that erode or nullify the climate benefits of shifting to natural gas. These findings should lead policymakers to reject natural gas as a “bridge fuel” and instead lead them to redouble America’s efforts to repower with truly clean energy from the sun, the wind and other renewable sources of energy.

ENVIRONMENT AMERICA
Our transition to a clean energy system has already begun. But, with the need to reduce the pollution that causes global warming growing more urgent every day, we need to step up the pace. To maximize the benefits of moving to 100 percent renewable energy, leaders at all levels must act to accelerate our progress. America’s energy policy should facilitate mass deployment of clean energy solutions, support research and development of new clean energy technologies, and keep much of our coal, oil and gas reserves in the ground.

ENVIRONMENT AMERICA
Nationally, solar PV capacity increased at a rate of 77 percent per year from 2010 to 2013. If solar installations continue to increase at less than one-third of that annual rate of growth (22 percent) between 2013 and 2030, America would have enough solar energy to generate 10 percent of its electricity.

ENVIRONMENT AMERICA
Our analysis shows that damage from fracking is widespread and occurs on a scale unimagined just a few years ago. Moreover, three factors suggest that the total damage from fracking is far worse than we have tabulated here. Severe limitations in available data constrain our ability to see the full extent of the damage. Second, there are broad categories of fracking damage—such as the number of water wells contaminated—that would be difficult to ascertain under any circumstances. Finally, there remain major gaps in the scientific community’s understanding of issues such as the long-term consequences of pumping toxic fluids into the ground.

ENVIRONMENT AMERICA Introduction America is in the midst of a fracking boom … and a fracking bust. In North Dakota, times are booming. The state has rapidly become the nation’s second-largest oil producer due to the use of horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing (the combination of technologies used in fracking) to tap oil supplies from […]

ENVIRONMENT AMERICA Executive Summary Solar energy is on the rise. America has more than three times as much solar photovoltaic capacity today as in 2010, and more than 10 times as much as in 2007. In the first three months of 2013, solar power accounted for nearly half of the new electricity generating capacity in […]

ENVIRONMENT AMERICA
The Northeast can make a meaningful contribution to reducing the impacts of global warming. In 2010, the 10 Northeastern states then participating in RGGI emitted 533 million metric tons (MMT) of carbon dioxide pollution from energy use. Were the Northeast its own country, its emissions would rank 10th in the world, ahead of the United Kingdom, Saudi Arabia, Mexico, Brazil and France.

Margie Alt is the executive director of Environment America. She oversees all aspects of the organization, including policy and strategy development for major campaigns; building the organization’s membership, visibility and field power; and recruiting and training hundreds of staff and activists. Under Margie’s direction the Environment America federation has grown to include 29 state-based groups, […]

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